Focus Group Foci : Employing Participants' HCI and Application Domain Expertise in Interaction Design

The paper reports a study in which two aspects of interaction design - human interaction with technology and acting through technology were analyzed in the context of participatory sessions having the focus group format. The sessions were conducted as a part of redesigning a novel digital artifact, a web-based project management tool. An initial prototype of the artifact was introduced to two different groups of participants possessing expertise in, respectively, human-computer interaction (HCI) and teaching and learning, a key target application domain for the tool. Re-design suggestions provided by each of the focus groups were found to address issues with both user interface and functionality of the prototype. The main difference between the groups was in whether they primarily focused on interaction efficiency or artifact's integration into a larger social and technological context. Implications of the study for further development of participatory methods in interaction design are discussed.